Textron 172 N923EP

Summary

On 1 March 2025 at about 16:38 local time, a Textron 172 registered N923EP, operated by Epic Aviation Inc, was involved in an accident near New Smyrna Beach, Florida, United States. 2 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. No probable cause has been published yet; this accident is still under investigation.

Date

1 March 2025 at 16:38

Classification

Accident

Location

New Smyrna Beach, Florida, United States

Nearest airport

New Smyrna Beach Muni (EVB)

Coordinates

29.0474, -80.9491

Aircraft

Textron 172

Registration

N923EP

Category

Airplane

Year built

2023

Engines

1

Operator

Epic Aviation Inc

Operating rule

Part 91: General Aviation

Purpose of flight

Instructional

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

ERA25LA132

Nobody was injured.

The NTSB has not published a probable cause for this record. The investigation is still open; a final report usually follows one to two years after the accident.

Nothing about the cause is stated here that is not in the source record.

Read the full NTSB narrative

On March 1, 2025, about 1138 eastern standard time, a Cessna 172S, N923EP, was substantially damaged when it was involved in an accident near New Smyrna Beach, Florida. The flight instructor and student pilot were not injured. The airplane was operated as a Title 14?Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 instructional flight. The flight instructor stated that the accident flight was the student’s first flight in an airplane. Prior to departure from New Smyrna Beach Municipal Airport (EVB), New Smyrna Beach, Florida, the left fuel tank was fueled, bringing the total fuel onboard to 51.6 gallons. No discrepancies were noted during the preflight inspection or engine run-up prior to departure. The flight instructor performed a departure briefing, and after holding short of the runway briefly, was cleared for takeoff. During the takeoff roll with the mixture control full rich and full throttle applied, the engine rpm was more than 2,300, which increased to 2,400 rpm after getting airborne. When the airplane was about 180 ft above the runway the engine rpm dropped and the engine lost power completely. The flight instructor took control of the airplane and executed an emergency landing, turning “everything fuel related off.” He pitched down to maintain airspeed, declared a mayday with the air traffic control tower and touched down on the beginning of the threshold for runway 2, then rolled onto grass. To avoid nosing over the flight instructor tried not to brake excessively and maneuvered the airplane toward a fence to avoid vehicles on a road that was off-airport. The airplane collided with the fence and nosed over. A review of the operator-provided download of on-board avionics revealed that takeoff power was applied at 1137:41, and the rpm remained above 2,400 until 1138:04, when the rpm and fuel flow began to decrease. The engine rpm continued to decrease to 0. The airplane was recovered and retained for further examination.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.